The chiral anomaly and thermopower of Weyl fermions in the half-Heusler GdPtBi

Max Hirschberger, Satya Kushwaha, Zhijun Wang, Quinn Gibson, Sihang Liang, Carina A. Belvin, B. A. Bernevig, R. J. Cava, N. P. Ong

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

445 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Dirac and Weyl semimetals are unusual materials in which the nodes of the bulk states are protected against gap formation by crystalline symmetry. The chiral anomaly, predicted to occur in both systems, was recently observed as a negative longitudinal magnetoresistance (LMR) in Na 3 Bi (ref.) and in TaAs (ref.). An important issue is whether Weyl physics appears in a broader class of materials. We report evidence for the chiral anomaly in the half-Heusler GdPtBi. In zero field, GdPtBi is a zero-gap semiconductor with quadratic bands. In a magnetic field, the Zeeman energy leads to Weyl nodes. We have observed a large negative LMR with the field-steering properties specific to the chiral anomaly. The chiral anomaly also induces strong suppression of the thermopower. We report a detailed study of the thermoelectric response function α xx of Weyl fermions. The scheme of creating Weyl nodes from quadratic bands suggests that the chiral anomaly may be observable in a broad class of semimetals.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1161-1165
Number of pages5
JournalNature Materials
Volume15
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 1 2016

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Chemistry
  • General Materials Science
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Mechanics of Materials
  • Mechanical Engineering

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